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SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE 


OF  THE 


APOSTLE    ELIOT. 


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SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE 


APOSTLE   ELIOT, 


PREFATORY  TO  A  SUBSCRIPTION 


ERECTING  A  MONUMENT 


TO  HIS  MEMORY. 


In  arched  walks  of  twilight  groves, 
And  shadows  brown,  of  pine  or  oak, 
So  many  grateful  altars,  I  would  rear 
Of  grassy  turf;  and  pile  up  every  stone, 
Of  lustre,  from  the  brook,  in  memory. 
Or  monument  to  ages Milton. 


BY  HENRY  A.  S.  DEARBORN. 


ROXBURY: 
NORFOLK   COUNTY    JOURNAL    PRESS. 

OVER  CENTRAL  MARKET, 
1850. 


GIFT 


31 A  M  U  S  S  E 

WUNNEETUPANATAMWE 
UP-BIBLUM  GOD 

NANEESWE 

NUKKONE  TESTAMENT 

KAH  WONK 

WUSKU  TESTAMENT. 

NE  aUOSHKINNUMUK  NASIIPE  ^VUTTINNEMOH  CHRIST 
NOH  ASOOWESIT 

JOHN  ELIOT. 


CAMBRIDGE: 

PRINTEUOOPNASflPE  SAMUEL  GREEN  RAH  MARMADllE  JOHNSON. 

1663. 

[The  title  page  of  Eliot's  Indian  Bible.] 

iv:890800 


NEGONNE  OOSUKKUHWHONK  MOSES, 

NE  ASOWEETAMUK 

GENESIS. 

CHAP.    I. 

1 .  Weske  kutchinik  ayum  God  kesuk  kah  Ohke. 

2.  Kah  Ohke  mo  matta  kuhkenauunneunkquttinnoo  kah 
monteagunnmno,  kah  pohkenum  woskeche  moonoi,  kah 
Nashauanit  popomshau  woikeche  nippekontu. 

3.  Onk  noowau  God  wequi,  kah  mo  wequai. 

4.  Kah  wmmaummi  God  wequai  neen  wunnegen ;  kah 
-wntchadchanbeponummi  God  noeu  wequai  kah  noeu  poh- 
kenum. 

5.  Kah  wutussowetamun  God  wequai  kesukod,  kah  poh- 
kenum wutussoweetamun  Nukon :  kah  mo  wunnonkooook 
kah  mo  mohoompog  negonne  kesuk. 

6.  Kah  noowau  God  sepakehtumooudj  noeu  nippekontu, 
kah  chadchapemooudj  nathauweit  nippe  wutch  nippekontu. 

7.  Kah  ayimup  God  sepakehtamoonk,  kah  wutchadeha- 
beponumunnap  nashaueu  nippe  agwu,  uttiyeu  agwu  se- 
pakehtamoonk, kah  nashaueu  nippekontu  attiyeu  ongkouwe 
sepakehtamoonk,  kah  monkonnih. 

8.  Kah  wuttidoweetamun  God  sepakehtamoonk  Kesuk- 
quath,  kah  mo  wunnonkooook,  kah  mo  mohtompog  nahoh- 
toeu  kesukok. 

9.  Kah  noowa  God  moemooidjnip  pe  ut  agwu  kesuk 
quathkan  pasukqunna,  kah  pahkemoidi  nanabpeu,  kah 
raonkoninih. 

10.  Kah  wuttisoweetaman  God  nanabpiohke,  kah  moee- 
moonippe  wuttissowetamun  Kehtoh,  &.  wunnaumun  God 
neen  wunnegen.  * 

[Ten  verses  of  the  first  chapter  of  Gekisis,  copied  from  Eliot's  Indian  Bible.] 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  A  MEETING 


FOR    THE    ERECTION    OF    A 


MONUMENT  TO  THE  APOSTLE  ELIOT. 


At  a  meeting  of  a  number  of  the  citizens  of  Roxbury, 
held  on  the  evening  of  the  sixth  of  April,  1850,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  devising  measures  to  obtain  funds,  for  erecting  a 
Monument  to  the  memory  of  the  Rev.  John  Eliot,  the  first 
Pastor  of  the  town  and  the  earliest  Missionary  to  the 
Indians,  the  Hon.  Henry  A.  S.  Dearborn  having  been  elected 
Chairman,  and  J.  Wingate  Thornton,  Esq.,  Secretary,  the 
following  resolutions  were  adopted. 

1.  Resolved^  That  Henry  A.  S.  Dearborn,  George  R.  Rus- 
sell, Alvah  Kittredge,  Supply  C.  Thwing,  William  J.  Rey- 
nolds, J.  Wingate  Thornton,  and  Stephen  M.  Weld,  be  a 
Committee  to  obtain  subscriptions  for  the  above  named  pur- 
pose, in  such  manner  as  they  may  deem  most  expedient ; 
and  said  Committee  may  add  one  or  more  persons,  in  each 
parish  or  ward  to  their  number. 

2.  Resolved,  That  in  the  event  sufficient  funds  cannot  be 
procured,  in  the  manner  prescribed  in  the  foregoing  resolu- 
tion, said  Committee  is  hereby  authorized  to  request  the 
pastors  of  the  churches  in  Roxbury,  to  designate  a  day 
when  they  will  deliver  discourses  on  the  life  and  character 
of  Eliot,  and  recommend  that  contributions  be  made  by  their 
parishioners,  in  aid  of  the  fund  for  the  object  above  named. 

3.  Resolved,  That  when  sufficient  funds  shall  have  been 
procured,  the  Commissioners  of  the  Forest  Hills  Cemetery 
are  hereby  requested  to  cause  a  Monument  to  be  erected  in 


8 


said  Cemetery,  in  conformity  to  the  plan  which  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee. 

4.  Resolved  J  That  one  thousand  copies  of  the  "Sketch  of 
the  Life  of  the  Apostle  Eliot,  as  prefatory  to  a  subscription 
for  erecting  a  Monument  to  his  memory,"  be  printed  for  dis- 
tribution among  the  citizens  of  this  city,  and  other  parts  of 
the  county,  in  such  manner  as  the  Committee  may  think 
proper. 

5.  Resolved,  That  Charles  K.  Dillaway,  Esq.,  be  the 
Treasurer,  to  receive  such  sums  as  may  be  collected  for  the 
purpose  aforesaid,  and  to  deliver  the  same  to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Forest  Hills  Cemetery,  to 
be  expended  by  said  Commissioners,  for  the  erection  of  a 
Monument,  in  the  manner  designated  in  the  third  reso- 
lution. 

H.  A.  S.  DEARBORN,  Chairman. 

J.  WiNGATE  Thornton,  Secretary. 
Roxhury,  April  6th,  1850. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Eliot  Monument  Committee,  holden 
on  the  tenth  of  April,  1850,  the  following  Resolutions  were 
adopted. 

1.  Resolved,  That  the  following  named  persons  be  added 
to  the  Committee :  George  W.  Bond,  Dudley  Williams, 
Allen  Putnam,  William  Whiting,  John  Allen,  John  L. 
Plummer,  J.  W.  Parker,  Levi  Reed,  J.  W.  Tucker,  William 
G.  Eaton,  Joseph  H.  Curtis,  Thomas  Motley,  James  W. 
Converse,  Joseph  H.  Billings,  Abijah  W,  Draper,  Linus  B. 
Comins,  Stephen  Hammond,  Calvin  Young,  and  George 
James. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  following  Sub-Committees  be  ap- 
pointed. Ward  1 ;  Alvah  Kittredge,  Allen  Putnam,  Wil- 
liam Whiting.  Ward  2 ;  Supply  C.  Thwing,  John  Allen, 
John  L.  Plummer.  Ward  3 ;  William  J.  Reynolds,  J.  W. 
Parker,  Levi  Reed.  Ward  4 ;  J.  Wingate  Thornton,  Joseph 
W.  Tucker,  William  G.  Eaton.     Ward  5;   Dudley  Wil- 


liams,  Linus  B.  Comins,  Stephen  Hammond.  Ward  6 ; 
George  W.  Bond,  Calvin  Young,  George  James.  Ward  7  ; 
Stephen  M.  Weld,  Joseph  W.  Curtis,  Thomas  Motley, 
James  W.  Converse.  Ward  8;  George  R.  Russell,  Joseph 
H.  Billings,  Abijah  W.  Draper. 

3.  Resolved^  That  as  soon  as  the  Sketch  of  the  Life  of 
Eliot  is  published,  and  subscription  papers  have  been  pre- 
pared, a  sufficient  number  of  each  shall  be  delivered  to  the 
Sub-Committees,  and  subscriptions  be  commenced  by  them, 
in  each  of  their  respective  Wards,  as  soon  as  practicable. 

4.  Resolved^  That  the  Chairman  of  the  Eliot  Committee 
be  authorized  to  call  meetings  whenever  he  he  may  consider 
it  expedient,  or  whenever  requested  so  to  do  by  the  Sub- 
Committees. 

H.  A.  S.  DEARBORN,  Chairman. 

J.  WiNGATE  Thornton,  Secretary. 
Roxhury^  April  Wth,  1850. 


The  Monument  is  a  Corinthian  column,  surmounted  by 
a  Funereal  Urn,  formed  of  New  Jersey  or  Connecticut  free- 
stone, or  granite.     Whole  height,  forty-two  feet. 

The  fence  is  supported  by  Doric  columns,  of  the  same 
material  as  the  Monument;  the  pales  alternate  Crosses  and 
Arrows,  as  emblematical  of  Eliot's  Christian  office,  and  of 
the  Indians  for  whom  it  was  assumed. 

On  the  front  side  of  the  pedestal  of  the  colum,  a  basso- 
relievo  of  an  open  folio  Bible,  exhibiting  the  title  page  of 
Eliot's  translation;  the  letters  in  intaglio  and  gilded.  On 
the  second  side,  the  dates  of  the  birth  and  death,  and  age  of 
Eliot ;  on  the  third  side,  the  date  of  his  ordination  ;  and  on 
the  fourth  side,  an  inscription  indicating  by  whom  and 
when  the  Monument  was  erected. 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE, 


This  sketch  of  the  Life  of  Eliot  has  been  compiled  from 
the  biographies  of  Mather,  Adams,  Moore  and  Francis, 
Tracts  relating  to  the  attempts  to  convert  to  Christianity 
the  Indians  of  New  England,  Winthrop's  History,  Prince's 
Chronological  History,  Eliot's  Biographical  Dictionary,  the 
Town  and  Church  Records  of  Roxbury,  an  Address 
delivered  on  the  Second  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the 
settlement  of  the  Town,  Ellis's  History  of  Roxbury, 
Biglow's  History  of  Natick,  and  facts  communicated  by 
J.  W.  Thornton,  Esq. 

H.  A.  S.  DEARBORN. 

Hawthorn  Cottage,  ) 

Roxbury,  April  6th,  1850.  ) 


SUBSCRIPTION 


ERECTING  A   MONUMENT 


COMMEMORATE  THE  NAME  AND  SERVICES 


APOSTLE   ELIOT, 


IN  FOREST  HILLS  CEMETERY. 


On  the  second  of  November,  1631,  the  Rev.  John  Ehot 
arrived  at  Boston,  in  the  ship  Lyon,  with  Governor  Win- 
throp's  lady  and  children.  He  immediately  joined  the  first 
church,  and  Mr.  Wilson,  the  pastor,  having  gone  to  Eng- 
land for  his  family,  he  preached  Avitli  them  mitil  the  autumn 
of  1632,  when  he  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  the  church 
in  Roxbury;  ''though  Boston  labored  all  they  could,  both 
with  the  congregation  of  Roxbury  and  with  Mr.  Eliot  him- 
self, alledging  their  want  of  him,  and  the  covenant  between 
them.  Yet  he  could  not  be  diverted  from  accepting  the  call 
of  Roxbury  ;  so  he  was  dismissed." 

Under  his  name,  in  the  Roxbury  Church  Records,  the 
following  reasons  are  assigned  for  the  preference  given  to 
that  town. 

'•  His  friends  were  come  over  and  settled  at  Roxbury,  to 
whom  he  was  foreengaged,  that  if  he  were  not  called,  be- 
fore they  came,  he  was  to  join  them :  whereupon  the  Church 
at  Roxbury  called  him  to  be  their  Teacher,  in  the  end  of 
summer,  and  soon  after  was  ordained  to  that  office.     Also 


12 


his  intended  wife,  Hanna  Mumford,  came  along  with  the 
rest  of  his  friends,  —  she  found  him  and  soon  after  their 
coming,  they  were  married." 

But  httle  is  known  of  Mr.  Ehot  before  he  left  his  native 
country.  Nothing  is  related  of  his  parents,  except  that  they 
gave  him  a  liberal  education.  It  is  said  he  was  born  at  Na- 
sing,  in  the  county  of  Essex,  in  1604,  and  graduated  at  one 
of  the  English  universities.  On  leaving  college,  he  engaged 
in  the  respectable  occupation  of  an  instructor.  Mr.  Hooker, 
who  subsequently  emigrated  to  this  country,  and  became 
one  of  the  most  eminent  among  the  worthies  of  New  Eng- 
land, having  been  silenced  as  a  preacher,  on  account  of  his 
non-conformity,  had  established  a  grammar  school  at  little 
Baddow,  near  Chelmsford,  in  Essex,  and  employed  Eliot 
as  an  usher.  But  notwithstanding  the  interposition  of  forty- 
seven  conforming  clergymen  on  his  behalf,  Hooker  was 
obliged  to  flee  to  Holland,*  from  the  searching  and  vindic- 
tive tyrany  of  Laud ;  and  his  assistant  sought  a  refuge 
from  persecution,  in  the  new  Western  World,  in  the  twenty- 
seventh  year  of  his  age. 

Equally  distinguished  for  learning,  piety,  and  philan- 
thropy, that  excellent  man  acquired  the  esteem  and  respect 
of  his  contemporaries,  and  left  a  name  dear  to  his  adopted 
country  and  illustrious  throughout  the  world,  as  the  first 
herald  of  Christianity  to  the  savages  of  North  America. 
His  parochial  duties  were  performed  with  zeal  and  fidelity, 
which  evinced  the  purest  principles  of  religion  and  the 
kindest  feelings  of  benevolence.  As  a  missionary,  he  re- 
linquished the  endearments  of  civilized  society,  encountered 
the  dangers  of  the  wilderness,  and  participated  in  the  priva- 
tions of  the  wild,  precarious,  and  comfortless  life  of  barba- 
rians. With  such  holy  ardour  and  untiring  perseverance  did 
he  prosecute  his  great  and  commendable  labors,  as  to  have 
acquired  the  exalted  title  of  "The  Apostle  to  the  Indians." 

To  qualify  himself  for  that  high  office,  and  render  his 
services  most  acceptable,  useful  and  efficient,  he  learned 


*  From  Holland  he  eame  to  Massachusetts,  and  was  the  pastor  of  the  first  church 
in  Cambridge,  but  afterwards  removed,  with  his  church,  to  Hartford  in  Connecticut. 


13 


the  Indian  language  ;  and  for  accomplishing  that  important 
object,  he  secured  the  assistance  of  one  of  the  natives,  who 
could  speak  English,  by  the  name  of  Job  Nesutan,  who 
belonged  to  a  Long  Island  tribe,  and  had  been  taken  in  the 
Pequott  war.  Eliot  taught  him  to  write,  which  he  quickly 
learned. 

In  1675,  there  were  about  fifty  thousand  Indians  in 
New  England.  When  the  settlements  were  first  commenced 
there  were  five  principal  nations  in  Massachusetts,  Connec- 
ticut, and  Rhode  Island,  each  of  which  included  several 
tribes ;  the  Narragan setts,  Pequotts,  Panekunnawkuts, 
Pawtuckets,  and  Massachusetts,  who  formerly  could  mus- 
ter nineteen  thousand  warriors ;  but  in  1674,  only  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty.  The  whole  number  in  all  the  tribes 
was  less  than  nine  thousand,  of  whom  three  thousand  six 
hun(J^ed  were  ''praying  Indians." 

The  first  effort  to  civilize  the  savages  was  an  order  of  the 
General  Court,  in  1646,  for  promoting  the  diff'usion  of 
Christianity  among  them,  and  the  elders  =^  of  all  the  churches 
were  requested  to  consider  how  it  might  best  be  effected, 
when  Eliot  was  employed,  as  being  eminently  qualified  to 
perform  the  difficult  and  arduous  duties  of  a  missionary ; 
but  the  funds  were  chiefly  furnished  by  an  association  in 
England.  The  first  time  he  officiated  was  at  a  place  called 
Nonantum  by  the  Indians,  as  it  signifies  rejoicing.  There 
was  the  camp  of  Wabon,  a  principal  chief  It  was  situated 
on  a  hill  in  Newton,  near  the  Kenricks'  nurseries,  and 
where  the  late  learned  and  venerated  Dr.  Freeman  had  a 
country  seat. 

In  1750,  Mr.  Eliot  obtained  a  grant  of  land  at  Natick, 
which  means  a  place  of  hills,  for  the  purpose  of  there  as- 
sembling the  Indians,  and  building  houses  and  organizing  a 
town  government  for  them. 

He  frequently  visited  the  Indians  at  Quaboag,  now  Brook- 
field,  Cape  Cod,  Plymouth,  those  on  Merrimac  river, 
and  in  New  Hampshire  and  elsewhere,  to  instruct  them  in 


*  One  of  whom  was  Isaac  Heath,  who  was  an  eminent  elder  of  Eliot *s  church* 
and  was  ever  a  confidential  friend  and  adviser,  in  cases  of  difficulty. 

2 


14 


piety ;  but  when  the  King  Phihp  War  began,  he  had  great 
difficuhies  to  encounter,  in  consequence  of  the  excitement  of 
the  people  against  all  the  Indians,  not  excepting  those  under 
his  immediate  superintendence. 

Philip  was  a  brave,  sagacious,  and  able  chief —  the  Na- 
poleon of  his  race.  He  had  imbibed  a  dread  of,  and  hatred 
to  the  Europeans  from  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  as 
soon  as  his  father  died,  —  the  honest,  generous  and  ever 
kind  and  faithful  Massasoit,  he  formed  a  combination,  of 
not  only  all  the  tribes  in  New  England,  but  the  Six  Nations 
of  New  York,  and  those  as  far  South  as  Pennsylvania,  for 
the  purpose  of  waging  a  furious  war  against  the  whites, 
as  he  had  discovered  that  his  people  must  inevitably  dis- 
appear from  the  earth,  from  the  rapid  increase  of  the 
emigrants,  or  the  latter  be  utterly  exterminated.  His  lofty 
and  imperial  spirit  was  strikingly  exemplified  in  his  aifswer 
to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts :  "I  will  not  treat,  except 
with  my  brother  king  Charles  of  England."  Like  his 
father  Massasoit,  he  would  neither  adopt  the  Christian  re- 
ligion himself,  nor  permit  it  to  be  introduced  among  his 
subjects.  Eliot  having  offered  to  preach  to  the  Indians,  in 
his  presence,  he  rejected  the  proposition  with  disdain,  and 
taking  hold  of  a  button  on  the  Apostle's  coat,  observed : 
"I  care  no  more  for  the  Gospel,  than  for  that  button." 

When  the  war  began,  the  Indians  who  were  supposed  to 
be  united  with  the  colonists  by  religious  sympathy,  found 
no  mercy  at  the  hands  of  Philip  ;  while  on  the  other  hand, 
the  English  began  to  regard  them  with  stern  suspicion 
and  apprehension,  having  no  confidence  in  their  fidelity. 
Under  this  powerful  influence  Eliot's  hapless  converts  suf- 
fered the  harshest  injustice ;  it  being  their  hard  fate  to  have 
the  good  will  of  neither  party.  This  want  of  confidence  in 
the  fidelity  of  Eliot's  disciples,  was  perfectly  natural,  for  a 
fierce  and  powerful  enemy  was  roving  the  country,  and 
lighting  up  the  darkness  of  midnight,  by  the  conflagration 
of  the  houses  of  the  scattered  population  and  slaughtering, 
with  remorseless  wrath,  men,  women  and  children,  and  the 
passions  of  the  whole  people  were  consequently  exasperated 
to  the  highest  pitch,  against  the  entire  Indian  race. 


15 


From  this  universal  excitement,  the  General  Court  was 
impelled  to  pass  an  order,  that  the  Indians  at  Natick  should 
be  forthwith  removed  to  Deer  Island,  in  Boston  harbor ; 
and  Captain  Thomas  Prentiss,  with  a  party  of  horse,  was 
appointed  to  enforce  the  removal.  There  were  about  two 
hundred.  They  were  ordered  to  a  place  called  the  Pines, 
on  Charles  river,  two  miles  above  Cambridge,  where  boats 
were  in  readiness  to  receive  them.  There  their  spiritual 
father  and  faithful  friend  met  them,  to  sympathise  in  their 
sorrows,  and  exhort  them  to  be  patient  under  sufferings, 
which  he  had  vainly  endeavored  to  avert,  by  the  most  elo- 
quent appeals  to  the  magnanimity  and  mercy  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  assurances  of  his  entire  confidence  in  their 
fidelity,  and  friendly  cooperation  against  a  common  enemy. 

As  the  boats  moved  from  the  shore,  that  venerable  man, 
on  whose  head  more  than  seventy  winters  had  shed  their 
frosts,  poured  forth  fervent  prayers,  in  behalf  of  his  much 
wronged  and  disconsolate  children  of  the  wilderness.  About 
midnight,  on  the  thirteenth  of  October,  1675,  they  were 
transferred  to  three  vessels  and  transported  to  their  destina- 
tion, on  Deer  Island. 

The  slightest  occurrence  was  enough  to  kindle  the  pas- 
sions of  the  colonists  into  outrage.  A  barn  filled  with  hay 
and  grain  having  been  burnt,  in  Chelmsford,  by  some  In- 
dians of  the  hostile  party,  as  it  was  afterwards  ascertained, 
the  inhabitants  at  once  imputed  the  crime  to  the  Christian 
Indians  of  Wamesit,  and  determined  on  revenge.  Fourteen 
armed  men  went  to  their  camp,  and  called  to  them  to  come 
out,  and  not  suspecting  any  harm,  they  appeared,  when 
they  were  fired  upon,  and  a  boy  was  killed  and  five  women 
and  children  wounded.  The  murderers  were  arrested  and 
tried,  but  under  the  influence  of  popular  exasperation  they 
were  acquitted.  The  band  was  so  frightened,  by  this 
brutal  assault,  that  the  settlement  was  nearly  abandoned, 
the  refugees  seeking  safety  in  the  forests.  Attempts  were 
made  to  induce  them  to  return,  but  the  remembrance  of  the 
cruel  attack  which  had  been  made  upon  them,  prevented 
an  acquiesence;  and  in  a  letter  to  Lt.  Henchman  of 
Chelmsford,  was  this  just  rebuke  to  men,  who  called  them- 


16 


selves  Christians:  "We  are  not  sorry,  for  what  we  leave 
behind ;  but  we  are  sorry,  that  the  English  have  driven 
us  from  our  praying  to  God,  and  from  our  teacher.  We 
did  begin  to  understand  a  little  of  praying  to  God." 

At  length  winter  and  hunger  drove  them  back  to  their 
wigwams,  when  a  committee,  consisting  of  Eliot,  Major 
Gookin,  and  Major  Willard,  was  appointed  to  visit  them, 
with  a  message  of  friendship  and  encouragement.  They 
also  visited  the  Nashobah  Indians  at  Concord,  who  were 
placed  under  their  firm  friend,  John  Hoare. 

The  Sachem  Wannalancet,  who  had  retired  some  dis- 
tance from  his  usual  residence,  on  the  Merrimac,  still  con- 
tinued faithful,  and  Eliot  and  Gookin  were  sent  on  an 
embassy  to  urge  him  to  return  to  his  accustomed  place  of 
residence,  and  in  a  letter  to  Boyle,  Eliot  observed :  "  We 
had  a  Sachem  of  the  greatest  blood  in  the  country,  who 
fled  by  reason  of  the  wicked  acting  of  the  English,  who 
basely  killed  and  wounded  some  of  them ;  but  he  was  per- 
suaded to  come  in  again." 

The  Indians  of  Punkapog,  now  Stoughton,  on  some 
slight  pretence,  were  also  removed  and  others  from  various 
places,  to  Deer  and  Long  Islands,  which  increased  the 
number  there  assembled  to  five  hundred,  who  were  ex- 
posed to  much  suffering  during  the  winter.  Eliot  and  the 
ever  humane  and  gallant  Gookin  and  other  philanthropic 
persons  visited  them  during  the  winter,  to  cheer  them  under 
their  afflictions  and  administer  to  their  wants,  as  far  as  it 
was  possible. 

A  corps  of  Christian  Indians  was  however  employed  in 
the  summer  of  1676,  in  the  army  against  Philip,  and  Goo- 
kin states  that  they  "had  taken  and  slain,  not  less  than 
four  hundred  of  the  enemy,  and  that  their  fidelity  and  cour- 
age was  testified  by  their  captains." 

Soon  after  that  campaign,  the  General  Court  gave  per- 
mission for  the  removal  of  the  Indians  from  Deer  and  Long 
Islands.  They  were  taken  to  Cambridge,  where  Thomas 
Oliver  kindly  offered  them  a  temporary  place  of  residence 
on  his  land.  Many  of  them  were  very  ill,  at  the  time  of 
their  removal,  and  the  assiduous  and  never  wearied  efforts 


17 


of  Eliot  and  his  constant  colaborator,  Major  Gookin,  in 
acts  of  beneficence,  were  called  into  perpetual  exercise, 
in  providing  them  with  medicine  and  food  and  raiment. 
This  Major  Gookin,  who  was  the  constant  friend  and  com- 
panion of  Eliot  in  many  of  his  most  difficult  expeditions, 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  the  age  in  Avhich  he 
lived.  He  received  a  liberal  education,  frequently  repre- 
sented Roxbury  in  the  Legislature,  was  many  years 
Speaker,  and  became  distinguished  as  a  Major  General  in 
the  militia. 

The  brave  and  able  chief  of  the  confederated  savages, 
the  renowned  king  Philip,  having  been  defeated  and  slain, 
and  the  war  thus  ended,  the  Christian  Indians  were  re- 
moved from  Cambridge  to  near  the  falls  of  Charles  River, 
where  one  of  their  own  teachers  built  a  large  council-house, 
in  which  religious  and  other  meetings  were  held,  and  Eliot 
preached  to  them  once  a  fortnight. 

Having  devoted  much  of  his  time  in  learning  the  Indian 
language,  and  in  translating  various  works  for  the  use  of 
his  disciples,  they  were  printed  by  Samuel  Green,  who  ar- 
rived with  the  colonists  under  Governor  Winthrop.  He 
came  in  the  ship  with  Thomas,  afterwards  Governor  Dud- 
ley, and  lodged  in  an  empty  cask  until  a  more  commodious 
shelter  could  be  obtained.  He  established,  in  Cambridge,  the 
first  printing  press  in  this  country,  which  was  placed  under 
the  direction  of  the  President  of  the  College.  He  had  thirty 
children  ;  nineteen  by  his  first,  and  eleven  by  his  second 
wife.  His  son  Benjamin  published  the  first  paper  in  North 
America,  in  1704.     It  was  called  the  News  Letter. 

The  New  Testament  was  published  in  1661,  and  the  Old 
in  1663.  They  were  bound  in  one  volume,  to  which  were 
added  a  catechism  and  the  Psalms  of  David  in  Indian 
verse,  being  a  translation  of  the  New  England  version  pre- 
pared for  the  churches  a  few  years  before.  A  copy  of  this 
Bible  was  handsomely  bound  and  sent  to  King  Charles  II. 

The  press-work  was  done  and  the  proof-sheets  corrected 
by  a  young  Indian  named  James,  who  was  born  in  the  In- 
dian town  of  Hassanamesitt,  now  Grafton.  He  was  taught 
to  write,  and  read  English,  at  the  Indian  school  in  Cam- 


18 


bridge,  and  instructed  in  the  art  of  Printing  by  Green,  who 
gave  him  the  sirname  of  Printer. 

Two  editions  of  the  Bible  were  pubhshed ;  the  first  of 
1500,  and  the  second  of  2000,  copies. 

The  other  works  translated  by  Eliot,  and  printed,  were  a 
Psalter,  which  was  published  in  1641,  a  catechism,  in  1653, 
Baxter's  Call  to  the  Unconverted,  in  1664,  a  Grammar,  in 
1664,  a  Logic  Primmer,  in  1672,  The  Practice  of  Piety,  by 
L.  Bayly,  Chaplain  to  James  I.,  in  1685,  a  Primmer,  of 
which  there  were  four  editions,  and  the  last  in  1687,  and 
The  Sound  Believer  and  Shepard's  Sincere  Convert,  bound 
together,  in  1689. 

The  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Indian  language  is 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  events  in  the  history  of  litera- 
ture ;  for  no  attempt  had  before  been  made  to  produce  a 
version  of  that  book,  in  any  language  other  than  that  spo- 
ken by  the  translators,  or  one  that  was  as  well  known,  from 
a  study  of  the  numerous  written  volumes,  which  had 
rendered  it  immortal. 

The  first  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  from  the  He- 
brew, was  a  Greek  version,  called  the  "  Septuagint,"  from 
a  tradition  that  it  was  made  by  seventy-two  Jewish  inter- 
preters, at  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  during  the  reign  of  Ptole- 
my Philadelphus,  in  the  third  century  before  the  Christian 
era.  Jesephus  states  that  the  High  Priest  Eleazer  selected 
six  learned  men  out  of  each  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Judea, 
and  sent  them  with  the  holy  volume  to  Egypt,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  sovereign  of  that  country,  to  make  the  transla- 
tion ;  but  later  authors  have  suggested  that  the  translators 
were  possibly  Jews  of  Alexandria,  who  had  long  resided 
there  and  learned  the  Greek  language. 

The  next  version  was  the  "Vulgate,"  also  called  ''the 
old  Italic,"  or  "Vulgar  Latin,"  which  was  translated  for 
the  use  of  the  people  who  spoke  that  language. 

An  Italian  translation,  including  the  New  Testament, 
was  executed,  towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
by  James  de  Varagine,  Arch-Bishop  of  Genoa. 

The  most  ancient  French  Bible  is  that  of  Guiars  de  Mau- 
lins,  which  was  printed  in  1498. 


19 


The  German  Bible  was  translated  by  Luther  with  the 
assistance  of  Melancthon,  and  other  of  his  friends,  in  1534. 

The  earhest  EngUsh  copy  of  the  Old  Testament  was  by 
the  persecuted  herald  of  the  Reformation,  John  Wickliffe. 
It  was  completed  in  13S0,  but  was  not  published,  as  the 
art  of  printing  was  not  discovered  and  used  until  1450 — 55. 
Numerous  manuscrript  copies,  however,  were  made,  and 
many  beautiful  samples  still  exist,  from  one  of  which,  after 
the  lapse  of  four  hundred  and  sixty-five  years,  an  edition 
was,  for  the  first  time,  published,  in  1845,  by  one  of  the 
English  universities. 

The  first  printed  English  translation  was  undertaken  by 
William  Tyndale ;  but  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  the  Nether- 
lands to  accomplish  his  work,  where  he  was  aided  by  John 
Fryth  and  John  Rogers,  who  were  burnt  for  heresy  in  Smith- 
field,  and  William  Roye,  who  suffered  on  the  same  account 
in  Portugal.  It  was  printed  entire  in  1537.  He  had  pre- 
viously translated  the  New  Testament,  and  numerous  copies 
were  clandestinely  introduced  into  England ;  but  to  prevent 
their  distribution  among  the  people,  the  infamous  Tunstall, 
Bishop  of  London,  employed  secret  agents  to  purchase  all 
that  could  be  found,  and  committed  them  to  the  flames,  at 
St.  Paul's  Cross ;  and  Tyndale  was  basely  seized  and  exe- 
cuted in  1536,  at  Augsburg,  by  the  instigation  of  the  British 
sovereign.  His  Bible  was  not  allowed  to  be  introduced 
into  England,  until  a  hundred  years  after  the  invention  of 
printing. 

Miles  Coverdale  published  a  translation  from  the  Dutch, 
in  folio,  in  1535.  It  was  dedicated  to  Edward  VI.,  who 
advanced  him  to  the  see  of  Exeter,  but  he  was  ejected 
by  Mary. 

A  revised  translation  of  the  Bible  was  published  in  1568, 
which  was  prepared  by  a  number  of  learned  men,  and  a 
majority  of  them  being  bishops,  it  was  called  the  "  Bishops 
Bible." 

The  last  English  Bible  was  ''King  James's."  In  1603 
that  monarch  commissioned  fifty-four  eminent  scholars,  of 
the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  other 
places,  to  make  a  new  and  more  correct  translation,  which 


20 


was  published  in  1611,  and  is  the  only  one  which  has  been 
since  used  in  Great  Britain  and  this  country. 

But  Eliot's  labors  were  far  greater  than  those  of  any  of 
the  translators  in  Germany,  France,  and  England,  for  they 
had  not  only  the  facilities  afforded  by  copies  of  the  Bible  in 
Latin,  which  was  the  conventional  language  of  the  priests 
and  students  of  Europe,  and  the  aid  of  their  cotemporaries 
in  Biblical  learning,  but  their  versions  were  substitutions  of 
their  vernacular  tongue  for  one  which  was  equally  as  well 
known ;  while  his  was  in  an  unwritten  and  hitherto  un- 
known language,  which  he  was  first  obliged  to  learn,  and 
after  his  Bible  was  published,  to  establish  schools  and  pre- 
pare a  grammar  and  other  books  for  instructing  the  savages 
to  read  it ;  and  in  all  these  arduous  duties  he  had  no  assist- 
ant but  an  Indian  boy.  Thus  a  humble  and  modest,  yet 
faithful  and  zealous  pastor,  of  a  small  Christiain  communi- 
ty, on  the  shores  of  a  vast  continent,  which  was  then  al- 
most an  entire  wilderness,  alone  achieved  a  work  which 
excited  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  both  hemispheres, 
and  has  rendered  his  name  ever  memorable  in  the  annals  of 
literature  and  piety. 

The  exalted  estimation,  which  had  been  formed  in  Eu- 
rope, of  the  character  and  services  of  this  Evangelist  of  the 
savages,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  Leusden,  the 
Professor  of  Hebrew  in  the  University  of  Utrecht,  and  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  scholars  of  the  age,  dedicated  his 
"Hebrew — English  Psalter,  to  the  very  Reverend  and  pious 
John  Eliot,  the  indefatigable  and  faithful  minister  of  Rip- 
pou,  and  Venerable  Apostle  of  the  Indians  in  America  ;  who 
had  translated  and  published,  in  the  American  tongue,  by 
an  Atlaean  Labour,  the  Bible ;  and  first  preached  the  Word 
of  God  to  the  Americans  in  the  Indian  tongue."  That 
"  Book  of  the  Psalms"  was  published  in  London,  in  1668. 

In  a  letter  to  Charles  II.,  accompanying  a  copy  of  the 
Bible  which  he  presented  to  that  monarch,  he  states  "  that 
though  there  be  in  this  Western  World  many  colonies  of 
other  European  nations,  yet  we  humbly  conceive  no  Prince 
hath  had  a  return  of  such  a  work  as  this.  The  Southern 
Colonies  of  the  Spanish  nation  have  sent  home  much  gold 


21 


and  silver'  as  the  fruit  and  end  of  their  discoveries :  that  we 
confess  is  a  scarce  commodity  in  this  colder  climate ;  but, 
suitable  to  the  ends  of  our  undertaking,  we  present  this,  and 
other  concomitant  fruits  of  our  poor  endeavors  to  plant  and 
propagate  the  gospel  here ;  which  upon  a  true  account  is  as 
much  better  than  Gold  as  the  Souls  of  men  are  more  worth 
than  the  whole  world.  This  is  a  nobler  fruit  of  Columbus's 
adventure,  and  indeed,  in  the  counsels  of  All-Disposing 
Providence,  was  an  higher  intended  end." 

It  is  also  remarkable  that  no  edition  of  the  Bible  in  the 
English  language  was  printed  in  North  America  until  that 
of  Kneeland  and  Green  of  Boston,  in  1782,  being  a  hun- 
dred and  nineteen  years  after  Eliot's  was  published.  This 
very  singular  fact  attracted  the  special  attention  of  Ander- 
son, the  author  of  an  interesting  work  recently  published  in 
England,  called  the  ''Annals  of  the  English  Bible."  He 
states  that,  "  the  authorities  at  home  would  never  permit  of 
a  single  edition  being  printed,  except  within  this  land ;  and 
one  of  the  most  notable  circumstances  in  the  times  of  Roger 
Williams,  John  Eliot,  Cotton  Mather,  Jonathan  Edwards, 
David  Brainard,  and  many  other  venerable,  laborious  and 
useful  characters,  was  this,  that  not  one  of  these  men  ever 
perused  any  other  than  an  Imported  English  Bible." 

Eliot's  whole  life  was  devoted  to  the  amelioration  of  the 
condition  of  all  ranks  in  society.  His  anxious  disposition 
to  promote  education  was  demonstrated  in  such  an  emphat- 
ic manner,  as  that  the  past  generations  of  one  section  of 
Roxbury  had,  and  those  of  all  future  ages  will  have  suffi- 
cient cause  to  bless  him ;  for  he  made  a  grant  of  land,  "  for 
the  maintainance  and  encouragement  of  a  School  at  Jamai- 
ca Pond  or  Plain,"  in  1689,  the  annual  income  of  which 
now  amounts  to  a  large  sum,  and  will  be  very  considerably 
increased,  when  all  the  land  shall  have  been  sold. 

Amiable,  unostentatious,  and  parental,  he  was  as  remark- 
able for  his  humility,  disinterestedness,  and  generosity,  as 
for  his  intellectual  attainments  and  exemplary  deportment. 
His  parishioners  were  his  children,  and  they  venerated  him 
as  a  father.  So  universally  was  he  respected,  and  so  im- 
portant were  his  services  considered,  that  Mather  remarks, 
3 


22 


"  There  was  a  tradition  among  us,  that  the  country  could 
never  perish  so  long  as  Eliot  was  alive." 

Richard  Baxter,  the  celebrated  English  clergyman,  in  a 
letter  to  Eliot,  a  few  years  before  his  decease,  thus  express- 
es his  opinion  of  his  labors  :  "  There  is  no  man  on  earth 
whose  work  I  consider  more  honorable  than  yours.  The 
industry  of  the  Jesuits  and  friars,  and  their  successes  in 
Congo,  Japan,  and  China,  shame  us  all,  save  you." 

"I  think,"  said  Shepard,  who  knew  Eliot  well,  ''that  we 
can  never  love  and  honor  this  man  of  God  enough." 

When  he  became  old  and  could  no  longer  preach,  and 
knowing  that  Roxbury  had  cheerfully  supported  two  min- 
isters by  voluntary  contributions  for  a  long  time,  he  re- 
quested permission  to  relinquish  his  annual  compensation. 
"I  do  here,"  said  this  venerable  teacher,  "give  up  my  sal- 
ary to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  now  brethren,  you  may 
fix  that  upon  any  man  that  God  shall  make  a  Pastor." 
But  the  society  informed  him  that  they  considered  his  pres- 
ence worth  any  sum  granted  for  his  support,  even  if  he 
were  superanuated,  so  as  to  do  no  further  service  for  them. 

Eliot's  charity  was  a  very  prominent  trait  in  his  charac- 
ter, and  he  frequently  gave  more  than  he  could  afford,  for 
his  own  family  often  suffered  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 

The  treasurer  of  the  parish,  on  paying  him  his  annual 
salary,  and  knowing  well  his  lavish  expenditures  for  the 
relief  of  others,  put  the  money  in  a  handkerchief,  and  tied 
it  in  as  many  hard  knots  as  possible,  in  hopes  thus  to  com- 
pel him  to  carry  it  all  home.  On  his  way  thither  he  called 
to  see  a  poor  sick  woman,  and  on  entering,  he  gave  the 
family  his  blessing,  and  told  them  that  God  had  sent  them 
some  relief  He  then  began  to  untie  the  knots,  but  after 
many  efforts  to  do  so,  and  impatient  at  the  perplexity  and 
delay  to  get  at  his  money,  he  gave  the  whole  to  the  mother, 
saying  with  a  trembling  accent,  "Here,  my  dear,  take  it; 
I  believe  the  Lord  designs  it  all  for  you." 

When  a  minister  complained  to  him  of  the  injurious 
treatment  of  some  of  his  parishioners,  he  replied :  "  Brother, 
learn  the  meaning  of  these  three  little  words,  —  hear ^  Jar- 
bear^  and  forgive.''^ 


23 


He  said  to  some  students,  who  were  not  early  risers  :  "  I 
pray  look  to  it,  that  you  be  morning  birds." 

As  he  was  walking  in  his  garden,  with  a  friend,  he  began 
to  pull  up  the  weeds,  when  his  friend  said  to  him ;  "  you 
tell  us  we  must  be  heavenly-minded."  Eliot  replied ;  ''It 
is  true ;  and  this  is  no  impediment  unto  that ;  for  were  I 
sure  to  go  to  Heaven  to-morrow,  I  would  do  what  I  do 
to-day." 

Cotton  Mather  states  that  his  manner  of  preaching  was 
very  plain,  yet  powerful.  His  delivery  graceful ;  but  when 
he  reproved  immoral  and  sinful  conduct,  his  voice  rose  into 
great  warmth  and  energy.  He  said  to  a  minister  who  had 
delivered  a  well- written  sermon,  "  There  is  aid  required 
for  the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  but  it  must  be  well  beaten. 
I  praise  God  that  yours  was  so  well  beaten  to-day." 

Eliot  continued  to  preach  as  long  as  his  strength  lasted. 
With  slow  and  feeble  steps  he  ascended  the  hill  on  which 
his  church  was  situated,  and  once  observed  to  the  person  on 
whose  arm  he  leaned;  "  This  is  very  much  like  the  road  to 
Heaven ;  'tis  up  hill;  the  Lord  by  his  grace  fetch  us  up." 

Frugal  and  temperate  through  a  long  life  he  never  had 
indulged  in  the  luxuries  of  the  table.  His  drink  was  water ^ 
and  he  said  of  wine;  "  It  is  a  noble,  generous  liquor,  and  we 
should  be  humbly  thankful  for  it ;  but,  as  I  remember,  ivater 
was  made  before  it."  Thus,  among  his  other  good  deeds, 
he  taught,  by  precept  and  example,  the  importance  of  that 
Temperance^  which  now  wages  such  an  honorable  crusade 
against  the  deleterious,  demoralizing  and  ruinous  vice  of 
inebriety. 

While  death  was  fast  approaching,  and  a  friend  inquired 
how  he  was,  he  replied;  "Alas!  I  have  lost  everything; 
my  understanding  leaves  me ;  my  memory  fails  me ;  but  I 
thank  God,  my  charity  holds  out  still :  I  find  that  rather 
grows,  than  fails." 

A  short  time  before  his  death  Mr.  Walten,  his  colleague 
having  called  to  see  him,  he  said:  "You  are  welcome  to 
my  very  soul ;  but  retire  to  your  study,  and  pray  that  I 
may  have  leave  to  be  gone." 

Having  presided  over  the  church  of  Roxbury  for  nearly 


24 


sixty  years,  this  reverend  pastor  calmly  ended  his  earthly 
existence,  on  the  twentieth  of  May,  1690,  in  the  eighty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age. 

He  lived  nearly  opposite  Thomas  Dudley's  house,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  brook,  in  the  rear  of  the  spot  on  which 
Guild's  Hall  stands. 

Governor  Thomas  Dudley's  mansion  was  taken  down  in 
1775,  and  a  fort  was  erected  on  the  site,  which  is  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  Universalist  Church.  He  first  settled  in  Cam- 
bridge, but  removed  to  Ipswich,  and  soon  after  came  to 
Roxbury.  His  son.  Governor  Joseph  Dudley,  and  grand- 
son Paul  Dudley,  who  was  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  lived  and  died  in  Roxbury.  Paul  Dudley  placed 
the  mile-stones,  now  to  be  seen  in  many  parts  of  the  town, 
with  his  initials  (P.  D.)  cut  upon  them. 

Eliot's  remains  were  placed  in  what  was  called  the 
Ministers^  Tomh^  in  the  first  burying  ground.  It  was 
built  in  the  manner  described  in  the  following  deposition  of 
Captain  William  Heath  and  Martha  Gary,  which  was 
sworn  to  before  Paul  Dudley  and  Samuel  Sewell,  on  the 
seventh  of  June,  1725,  and  is  inserted  in  the  Town  Re- 
cords. 

"  Mr.  William  Bowen,  brother  of  Mr.  Henry  Bo  wen,  late 
of  Roxbury,  was  taken  by  the  Turks,  and  it  was  proposed 
to  ye  Congregation,  met  in  Roxbury,  a  contribution  for  his 
redemption,  and  the  people  went  generally  to  the  public 
box,  young  and  old ;  but  before  the  money  could  answer 
the  end,  for  which  the  Congregation  intended  it,  the  people 
of  this  place  were  informed  that  Mr.  Bowen  was  dead,  and 
the  money  that  the  town  had  given  for  his  redemption,  was 
restored  to  ye  Congregation  again,  and  put  into  the  hands 
of  Deacon  Gyles  Pearson,  as  we  were  informed.  About 
the  same  time  good  old  Mrs.  Eliot  lay  at  the  point  of  death, 
[the  wife  of  the  pastor.]  It  was  then  agreed  upon  by  our 
heads  and  leader,  with  the  consent  of  others,  that  the  above 
named  contribution  money  should  be  improved  to  build  a 
Tomb  for  the  town,  to  inter  their  ministers,  as  occasion 
should  require,  and  that  old  Mrs.  Eliot,  for  the  great  ser- 
vice she  had  done  for  the  town,  should  be  put  into  said 


25 


tomb.  Robert  Sharp,  certain,  and  we  think  Nathaniel 
Wilson' were  employed,  by  the  Deacons  Pearson  and  Gary 
and  others  concerned,  to  build  said  tomb.  But  before  the 
tomb  was  finished  the  good  old  gentlewoman  was  dead, 
and  the  first  the  town  admitted  into  said  tomb.  Some 
months  after,  Benjamin  Eliot,  [a  son  of  the  Apostle]  died. 
He  had  preached  and  expounded  the  word  of  God  to  us  a 
long  time,  and  the  town  admitted  him  into  said  tomb. 

"  About  three  or  four  years  after  our  Reverend  Father, 
Mr.  John  Eliot  left  us,  and  the  town  laid  him  in  said  tomb ; 
and  the  tenth  of  last  January,  our  Revd.  Pastor,  Mr. 
Thomas  Walter  died,  and  the  town  at  their  own  charge, 
interred  him  in  the  tomb  belonging  to  the  town.  We  hear 
there  were  divers  others  put  into  the  said  tomb ;  but  we 
never  knew  by  what  right  or  order." 

At  the  anniversary  town  meeting,  holden  on  the  seventh 
of  March,  1725 — 6,  a  memorial  was  presented  by  Major 
John  Bowles,  in  which  he  claimed  "aright  in  the  town 
tomb,  as  his  ancestors  were  interred  there,  and  that  the  de- 
scendants had  since  kept  it  in  repair,"  and  requested  that 
"  a  committee  might  be  chosen  to  prosecute  him  in  the  laws 
by  a  writ  of  ejectment,  or  any  other  way,  that  might  be 
thought  proper,  that  the  matter  in  controversy  might  be  put 
upon  its  right  basis." 

The  subject  was  referred  to  Daniel  Oliver,  Jonathan 
Remington,  Oxenbridge  Thatcher,  on  the  part  of  the  town, 
and  Henry  Dering  and  Daniel  Henchman  on  the  part  of 
Major  Bowles,  who  reported  on  the  twelfth  of  May,  1726, 
"that  it  appeared,  the  descendants  of  Ana  [Hanna]  Eliot, 
wife  of  John  Eliot,  were  at  some  expense  of  the  charge,  in 
building  the  tomb  and  have  since  kept  it  in  repair,  and 
always  have  improved  it,  as  they  had  occasion  for  burying 
their  dead,  without  molestation,"  and  they,  therefore,  were 
of  opinion  that  said  descendants  should  have  "the  right  to 
improve  it  in  burying  their  dead ; "  and  that  "  the  charge 
arising  for  repairs  for  the  future  be  equally  borne  by  the 
town  of  Roxbury  and  the  descendants  of  Eliot." 

This  report  was  accepted  in  town  meeting. 

By  a  bill  of  the  expenses  paid  by  the  town,  on  file  in  the 


26 


City  Clerk's  office,  for  the  funeral  of  Mr.  Walter,  it  appears 
that  the  remains  of  Eliot  and  of  all  other  persons  who  had 
previously  been  deposited  there,  were  collected  and  put  in 
a  box. 

Eliot's  wife  was  distinguished  for  her  piety,  domestic 
virtues  and  benevolent  disposition,  and  was  highly  respect- 
ed by  all  classes  of  the  people.  She  had  sufficient  skill  in 
medicine  and  surgery  to  enable  her,  in  common  cases,  to 
administer  to  the  sick  and  wounded,  with  great  success, 
and  was  ever  ready  and  glad  to  use  her  knowledge  as  an 
instrument  of  charity.  She  died  three  years  before  her 
husband,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  March,  1687,  in  the 
eighty-fourth  year  of  her  age.  This  event  was  a  deep 
affliction  to  her  husband.  She  who  had  been  bound  to  him 
by  the  strong  ties  of  early  love,  had  been  his  solace  amidst 
toil  and  trial,  and  was  truly  called  ''the  staff  of  his  age," 
had  fallen  by  his  side.  Bowed  down  by  the  weight  of 
more  than  four  score  years,  and  having  ever  been  de- 
pendent upon  her  for  the  entire  management  of  his  house- 
hold, her  death  smote  heavily  upon  the  heart  of  that  vener- 
able man ;  and  as  he  stood  weeping  beside  the  coffin  of  her, 
with  whom  he  had  lived  so  long  and  so  happy,  he  said  to 
the  concourse  of  people  who  had  assembled  to  do  honor  to 
her  obsequies;  "Here  lies  my  dear,  faithful,  pious,  prudent 
and  prayerful  wife.  I  shall  go  to  her ;  but  she  shall  not 
return  to  me." 

They  had  six  children;  one  daughter,  who  was  the 
eldest,  and  five  sons.  Only  the  daughter  and  one  son  sur- 
vived them.  The  others  died  young  or  in  middle  age. 
The  frequent  and  grievous  disappointment  of  parental 
hopes,  were  borne  with  Christian  submission.  ''I  have 
had,"  he  said,  "  six  children;  and  I  bless  God  for  his  grace, 
they  are  all  either  with  Christ  or  in  Christ,  and  my  mind  is 
at  rest  concerning  them.  My  desire  was  that  they  should 
have  served  God  on  earth ;  but  if  God  will  choose  to  have 
them  rather  serve  him  in  heaven,  I  have  nothing  to  object  to 
it,  but  his  will  be  done." 

His  youngest  son  studied  divinity,  and  assisted  his  father 
for  some  time  in  the  ministry. 


ar 


111  the  year  1633,  Thomas  Weld  was  appointed  a  col- 
league with  Eliot,  but  having  been  sent  to  England,  with 
the  celebrated  Hugh  Peters,  by  the  Province,  in  1641,  he 
never  returned,  and  Avas  succeeded  by  Samuel  Danforth, 
who  continued  in  office  twenty-four  years.  Nehemiah 
Walter,  who  was  born  in  Ireland,  came  to  Boston  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  and  having  graduated  at  Harvard  College, 
and  studied  divinity,  was  settled  as  Eliot's  third  colleague, 
on  the  seventeenth  day  of  October,  1688,  and  succeeded 
him  as  pastor.  His  son  Thomas  became  his  colleague  in 
1718,  but  died  seven  years  after,  in  1725.  He  published  an 
elementary  work  on  vocal  music,  which  was  long  used  in 
New  England.  The  father  died  September  17th,  1750, 
aged  eighty-seven. 

Oliver  Peabody  succeeded  Walter,  but  continued  only 
eighteen  months,  and  died  on  the  eve  of  being  married,  in 
the  twenty-seventh  year  of  his  age. 

Amos  Adams  was  the  next  pastor,  for  twenty-two  years, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Eliphalet  Porter  who  continued 
fifty-one  years.  The  present  pastor,  the  Rev.  Doctor  George 
Putnam  was  ordained  on  the  seventh  of  July,  1830. 

All  these  worthy  pastors,  who  died  in  Roxbury,  were 
interred  in  the  Ministers'  Tomb. 

When  it  is  considered  how  eminently  useful  and  mereto- 
rious  were  the  various  and  distinguished  services  which  the 
Apostle  Eliot  rendered  to  his  adopted  country,  in  the  cause 
of  humanity,  religion  and  morals,  and  how  remarkable 
were  his  early  and  long  continued  efforts  and  generous  aid 
for  extending  the  advantages  of  education  in  his  own  and 
all  coming  ages,  justice  prompts  to  an  emphatic  recognition 
of  such  signal  benefits ;  and  a  proper  respect  for  his  exem- 
plary clerical  deportment,  great  intellectual  attainments, 
and  extensive  literary  contributions,  as  one  of  the  earliest 
authors  in  the  Western  World,  seems  to  render  it  a  sacred 
and  incumbent  duty  of  the  citizens  of  this  State,  and  of 
those  of  Roxbury  in  a  special  manner,  to  evince  their  right- 
ful appreciation  of  his  worth,  by  commemorating  his  name 
and  character,  in  the  erection  of  a  suitable  monument,  in 
some  public  position  of  the  City ;  for  it  never  can  be  for- 


28 


gotten,  that  it  was  to  those  adventurous  bands  of  Pilgrims, 
who  laid  the  deep  and  broad  foundations  of  Civil  and 
Religious  Liberty,  on  the  bleak  and  wild  shores  of  New 
England,  that  we  are  indebted  for  the  unexampled  bless- 
ings which  we  enjoy,  as  a  Free  and  Independent  Nation  ; 
and  among  the  illustrious  Pioneers  of  those  bold  and 
adventurous  fraternities,  that  were  marshaled  under  the 
banners  of  the  moral  heroes  who  landed  at  Plymouth,  Salem 
and  Boston,  there  were  none  who  more  merited  the  grati- 
tude of  the  descendants  of  that  much  wronged,  long  suffer- 
ing, yet  unsubdued,  undismayed,  energetic  and  persevering 
race  of  men,  than  the  Patriarch  of  this  ancient  town. 

Is  it  not,  then,  fit  and  expedient,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than 
two  centuries  since  Eliot  was  ordained,  and  one  hundred 
and  sixty  years  since  his  decease,  that  there  should  be  a 
decided  exemplification  of  the  exalted  estimation  in  which 
his  long  and  laborious  services  are  held,  and  the  profound 
veneration  which  is  entertained  for  the  first  and  time- 
honored  herald  of  the  Christian  Religion  to  the  primeval 
inhabitants  of  this  vast  Republic  :  and  as  the  Commissioners 
of  Forest  Hills  Cemetery  have  designated  the  beautiful 
heights  on  its  western  border  as  the  Eliot  Hills,  and  liber- 
ally reserved  one  of  the  most  elevated  as  a  site  for  a  Ceno- 
taph, or  other  appropriate  sepulchral  structure,  in  the  full 
belief  that  ample  funds  for  such  a  holy  and  patriotic  object, 
would  be  contributed  at  an  early  period ;  and  in  the  execu- 
tion of  which,  they  have  expressed  an  anxious  and  zealous 
disposition,  to  render  all  the  services  in  their  power  to 
extend  —  therefore. 

We,  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed,  promise  most 
cheerfully,  to  pay  the  sums  opposite  thereto,  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  remains  of  the  Apostle  Eliot  to  Forest  Hills 
Cemetery,  and  the  erection  of  a  Monument  over  them, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Commissioners  of  that  sacred 
Garden  of  the  Dead. 


29 


SUBSCRIBERS 


As  an  appropriate  caption,  to  the  names  of  the  contribu- 
tors, for  the  erection  of  the  Monument,  it  is  gratifying  to  state 
the  following  very  remarkable  and  interesting  occurrence. 

A  few  days  before  the  preceding  Sketch  of  the  Life  of 
Eliot  was  printed,  Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh,  or  Copway,  a 
Missionary  of  the  Ojibway  Tribe*  of  Indians,  called  upon 
the  author,  and  stated  that  while  on  a  tour  through  the  east- 
ern states,  he  came  to  Roxbury,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
visiting  the  tomb  of  the  Apostle.  He  evinced  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  character  and  the  eminent  services  which 
Eliot  had  rendered  to  the  aborigines ;  and  when  informed 
of  the  measures  which  had  been  adopted  for  doing  honor 
to  his  memory,  he  expressed  the  deepest  solicitude,  that 
they  should  be  crowned  with  success,  and  volunteered  his 
aid,  so  far  as  he  was  enabled  to  do  so,  in  the  accomplishment 
of  that  object. 

He  having  intimated  a  desire  to  possess  an  engraving  of 
the  proposed  monument,  which  had  been  executed  to  embel- 
ish  the  Life  of  Eliot,  one  was  given  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Eliot  Monument  Committee,  to  present  to  him,  with  the 
following  note. 


*They  are  one  of  the  bands  of  the  large  Algonquin  or  Chippawa  nation,  whose 
territory  extends  from  Gononaque  in  Upper  Canada  to  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  includes  Lake  Superior.  There  are  numerous  bands,  and  their  aggregate  popu- 
lation has  been  estimated  to  amount  to  30,000, — five  thousand  of  which  are  in 
Canada. 

4 


30 

Hawthorn  Cottage 


Roxhury^  June  23,  1850. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  enclose  a  copy  of  the  engraving  of  the  Ehot  Monu- 
ment, in  a  note  to  the  Chippawa  Missionary,  which  I  will 
thank  you  to  give  to  him. 

I  wish  you  to  inform  him,  I  consider  it  a  propitious 
co-incidence,  that  while  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  Eliot 
was  being  printed,  a  Christian  Indian  Chief  should  come 
from  the  far  North-west,  to  behold  the  sepulchre  of  the 
Apostle  of  the  aboriginal  race  of  North  America,  and  be  the 
first  subscriber  to  the  fund  for  erecting  a  monument  to  com- 
memorate the  services  of  that  venerated  man  ;  and  that  the 
first  proof  engraving  of  the  monument  should  be  presented 
to  an  Indian  Disciple  of  the  modern  John  the  Baptist,  to 
the  Gentiles  of  this  continent. 

I  requested  the  engraver  to  introduce  an  Indian  pointing 
to  the  monument,  and  how  singular  it  is,  that  an  Indian 
should  appear,  at  this  time,  to  do  honor  to  the  manes  of 
Eliot,  more  than  two  centuries  after  he  commenced  the 
duties  of  a  Christian  Father  to  the  Indians,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  years  since  his  decease. 
Your  sincere  friend, 

H.  A.  S.  DEARBORN. 

J.  WiNGATE  Thornton,  Esq., 

Sec'y  of  the  Eliot  Monument  Committee. 


Boston^  June  25th,  1850. 
Gen.  H.  a.  S.  Dearborn  : 

Sir:  —  I  am  happy  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the 
Lithograph  you  were  so  kind  as  to  send  me,  of  the  pro- 
posed Monument  to  the  memory  of  one  of  the  greatest  of 
men  —  John  Eliot  —  the  Apostle  to  the  North  American 
Indians. 

I  have,  heretofore,  woridered  why  the  Christian  public 


31 


did  not  do  something  of  this  kind  before,  since  their  miUtary 
heroes  have  been  deified,  who  fell  martyrs  in  the  field  of 
battle,  while  struggling  for  Freedom.  Column  after  column 
has  been  erected  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  over  their 
sacred  dust.  It  is  gratifying  to  me  to  see  that  the  impera- 
tive duty  which  is  upon  us,  is  now  to  be  obeyed;  for 
Christians  and  the  sons  of  Piety  are  to  erect  a  monument  to 
Christian  moral  worth. 

This  is  a  sure  sign  that  the  sentiment  which  prevails 
every  where  in  other  lands,  to  some  extent,  is  here  also  in- 
creasing. This  will  be  a  lasting  memento  before  your 
children  and  our  children,  what  true  greatness  is;  and 
would  to  God,  that  while  they  are  under  its  shadow,  the 
self-sacrificing  spirit  which  was  in  Eliot,  might  be  felt  by 
them,  for  the  moral  elevation  of  man  and  glory  to  the 
Great  Spirit. 

While  the  localities  of  the  labors  of  the  Apostle  were 
shown  to  me,  my  natural  stern  character  was  overcome, 
and  I  could  pour  out  tears  of  joy  as  well  as  grief,  over  the 
ground  where  it  is  said  he  walked  and  knelt  with  the  red 
man.  My  mind  was  carried  back  two  hundred  years,  and 
I  could  see  John  Eliot  bending  over  the  Forest  Child,  while 
he  sought  the  guidance  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  whispering 
in  his  ears  —  "God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  This  sweetest  of 
sentences,  this  gentlest  of  truths,  this  purest  of  God's  own 
design,  elevated  the  mind  of  the  Indians.  Yes,  absorbed  in 
thought,  it  appeared  to  me  that  I  could  see  into  the  future, 
while  angels  held  up  the  curtain  of  time,  and  that  I  could 
behold  group  after  group  around  Eliot  the  Apostle,  in  the 
home  of  the  blessed  in  Heaven. 

I  need  not  mention  his  love  of  literature, — his  zeal  for  it 
remains  before  us — his  translations  of  the  Bible  and  other 
works, — a  monument  of  itself,  what  Christian  Heroism  can 
accomplish. 

Should  I  be  successful,  in  securing  a  Home  for  my 
brethren  in  the  North  West,  it  has  been  my  intention  to 
erect  two  qolumns  of  granite  to  the  sacred  memory  of  two 


32 


of  the  best  friends,  in  years  gone  by,  of  the  Indians — John 
EHot  and  Wilham  Penn. 

I  understand  you  are  about  opening  a  subscription  for  the 
erection  of  the  proposed  monument ;  please,  therefore,  to  put 
me  down  for  twenty-five  dollars  towards  it.  I  shall  deem 
it  a  privilege,  which  none  in  fact,  of  my  race  enjoy,  in 
being  able  to  give  a  small  mite  for  such  a  noble  object. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be. 

Your  humble  and  ob't  servant, 

KAH-GE-GA-GAH-BOWH, 

Or,  Firm-Standing, 

Alias  G.  COPWAY, 

Of  the  Ojibway  Nation. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  ot 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  ate  subjea  to  immediate  recall. 


^2^?r'6lfK 


W.:l"'~ 


Ml^f  1     B- 


2  7  'l'? 


^^%t^ 


Am 


fis^a 


Hr^eenueo" 


LD  21A-507n-12,'60 
(B6221sl0)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


10  39134 


